U.S. Consumer prices for May accelerated at their fastest pace in nearly 13 years as inflation pressures continued to build in the U.S. economy, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The Consumer Price Index, which represents a basket including food, energy, groceries, housing costs and sales across a spectrum of goods, rose 5% from a year ago. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a gain of 4.7%.
The reading represented the biggest CPI gain since the 5.3% increase in August 2008, just before the worst of the financial crisis sent the U.S. spiraling into the worst recession it had seen since the Great Depression.
Another report released Thursday showed that jobless claims for the week ended June 5 came in at 376,000. The estimate was 370,000… Investors, though, remain heavily focused on inflation, which hasn’t been a major threat to the U.S. economy since the early 1980s.
On a monthly basis, the headline CPI rose 0.8% while the core was up 0.7%. The estimate was 0.5% for both readings.
The gasoline index is up 56.2% over the past year, part of an overall 28.5% increase in energy during the period.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s best to get a handle on inflation, if you know how, while you still can.
Inflation is repudiation. — Calvin Coolidge
When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation. Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax and not by accident. — Ronald Reagan